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Sa Thi Nguyen, the grandmother of former Dallas Cowboys star Dat Nguyen, turned 100 on December 28 and had a celebration with her family, reports the Corpus Christi Caller-Times here.

Dat Nguyen, born in Fort Chaffee, Arkansas a few months after his family landed in the U.S. in 1975, is the first Vietnamese American to play pro football. After a stellar career at Texas A&M where he won the Lombardi award and led the Aggies to a Cotton Bowl championship (back when there was no BCS and the Cotton was a powerhouse bowl), he played middle linebacker for the Cowboys for five seasons. Dat Nguyen is now their assistant linebacker coach.

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The year-end edition, here, of Chuck Shepherd’s long-running syndicated column “News of the Weird” includes this item about a Vietnamese-American who makes his own (but not the only) contribution to shattering the myth that Asians are good at math:

Muoi Van Nguyen, 31, was arrested in Spokane Valley, Wash., in November, charged with (more…)

Senior running back Peter Nguyen from Bellevue High School in Washington was named the (Class 3A) Player of the Year by the AP while also selected for All-State offense, according to the Bellevue Reporter here.

That’s Nguyen in the picture, with the ball.

This past year, Peter Nguyen had to sit out more than a third of the games with a knee injury. Nonetheless, he still rushed for 1218 yards and 16 touchdowns. (more…)

The drawing came just in time for Christmas cheers. Hieu Tran, 38, of South Buffalo NY won the jackpot for the “In the Money” instant scratch-off game, reports the Buffalo News here.

Tran won $1 million, which will payout at a rate of $50,000 a year for the next 20 years. After taxes, that will be $34,075.

Tran told the media what he wanted to do with the money: (more…)

Merry Christmas!

One of the U.S.’s top young soccer star, a Dallas-born Vietnamese-American, is trying out to play in Vietnam for the country’s champion club, reports Sports Illustrated here.

Lee Nguyen, 22, one of USA soccer’s hottest young stars, is trying out to join Hoang Anh Gia Lai, the V-League’s championship team.

According to SI, “Nguyen is currently on trials at the Gia Lai club with technical director Nguyen Van Vinh assessing his ability to carry the club challenge next season.”

And the forward blasted in three goals for a 5-1 win over Binh Dinh in a friendly match.

The team’s technical director was quoted as saying “I am very pleased with Nguyen’s excellent performance. He’s not exceptionally strong, but he is technically skilful, creative and accurate. He is powerful enough with both legs and can get round an opponent wonderfully.”

Hoang Anh Gia Lai is named after its home province and the team’s financial backer Hoang Anh - a lumber and furniture company. Its  lineup is notorious for being stacked with players from Thailand’s national team. With two V-League championships, the club is considered the country’s powerhouse.

Nguyen calls the opportunity to play in Vietnam “a dream come true for me.”

Nguyen, however, may want to check out the club’s finances. Hoang Anh’s owner is plunked a huge portion of his fortune into real estate, and with the land market in Vietnam going down the tube, rumors are swirling that Hoang Anh will be the first house of cards to fall. Maybe Lee should make sure his pay is deposited in an escrow account or something.

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Hung Phuong Nguyen, the representative of Van Tran who spent $5,000 of his boss’s money on radio air time accusing people (mostly Janet Nguyen and Andrew Do) of being commies, ran out of cash (and usefulness) after the election and announced that he was closing down his program, that he’d dubbed “Free Vietnam.”

Almost immediately, his frequent guest and former candidate Joseph Dovinh announced a new weekly radio program featuring himself and Hung Phuong Nguyen.

This pair (pictured at Dina Nguyen’s campaign headquarters in June) will go well together.

In his announcement, besides the usual (more…)

A Garden Grove Viet man got into an argument with his 71-year-old mother on the eve of his 30th birthday and strangled her to death, reports KCBS-2 here.

Richard Nguyen, who turned 30 today, was arrested on Sunday on charges that he murdered his mother Nuong Thu Nguyen after they argued.

According to the news story, “after committing the crime, Nguyen wandered around Santa Ana. On Sunday, Nguyen reportedly called police and confessed to the murder.”

Nguyen - whose middle name is reported by CBS2 as Lam but shown on the Sheriff Department’s booking records here as Son - is being held on $1,000,000 bail.

In the spirit of the holidays, let’s spare our thoughts (and say a prayer if you are religious) for the decedent Nuong Thu Nguyen and her son Richard Nguyen.

A Vietnamese-American top scientist on the air quality board has been accused of faking a Ph.D. degree in statistics from UC Davis, says the San Diego Union-Tribune on its blog site here.

Hien T. Tran is the lead author and project coordinator for a study by the California Air Resources Board. The study’s conclusion was the main justification for the air board’s sweeping new efforts to limit diesel emissions.

Apparently, in a letter, California EPA Secretary Linda S. Adams wrote, “Regarding the professional background of the authors, the lead author and project coordinator, Hien Tran, holds a doctorate degree in statistics from the University of California at Davis….”

An epidemiologist at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, James E. Enstrom, called on this piece of information. He sent a letter to the air board that includes this part:

“However, I have determined from the UC Davis Office of the University Registrar and the UC Davis Department of Statistics that Hien Tran holds NO Ph.D. in statistics from UC Davis. Also, I searched ProQuest Dissertation Express and found NO evidence of a dissertation on any subject from any university awarded to the Hien T. Tran employed by CARB.”

When Enstrom received no responses, he sent the letter to the Union-Tribune’s reporter Chris Reed. The air board refused comment, saying an investigation has been launched and citing employee privacy.

When the Bolsavik looked in ProQuest, he did find two Ph.D. dissertations by a Hien T. Tran.

One is from Harvard, in neurology/molecular biology, and the other is from Rensselaer, in mathematics.

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A Viet cosmestologist is accused of using a laser in an attempt to flatten out a customer’s tummy tuck scar. For the operation, done in the nail salon’s back room, she is charged with one felony count of practicing medicine without a license, says the OC D.A. in its press release here.

Tuyet H.T. Luong, 36, of Anaheim, is a cosmetologist at MC Beauty Center in Costa Mesa. In January, a woman went to the salon for a manicure. While having her nails done by Luong, the woman complained about a scar she had on her abdomen from a tummy tuck. The D.A.’s office alleges that Luong told the woman she could flatten the scar using a laser device.

The woman agreed to let Luong do it. So, allegedly for the price of $500, the woman went with Luong to a back room, where Luong covered the scar with a topical ointment, and started using a 120-volt laser heat device over the scar, applying the ointment again, then burning the scar again. And again. And again. Until the woman started complaining of pain and said she could smell her skin burning.

About three days later, the woman got headache and a fever, so she went to a doctor. The doctor found she had suffered deep cuts through several laeyrs os skin and had second-degree burns; the burns had become infected. The doctor then prescribed oral antibiotics.

(Wait! There’s more! Not done yet!)

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